Sister of man who hanged himself in DFW Airport cell files lawsuit alleging negligence
Law enforcement officers at DFW Airport improperly assessed a Fort Worth man’s suicide risk and failed to frequently monitor his cell before he took his life last year, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
In the hours before he died, Waweru Mwaura, 43, was at a ticket kiosk at the airport’s Terminal E, preparing to fly home to Nairobi, Kenya. As he checked in on Nov. 30, 2018, Mwaura was approached by two DFW Department of Public Safety officers who told him he had an active warrant and arrested him, according to the lawsuit’s complaint.
He was taken to a jail cell and would hang himself there, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The warrant sought Mwaura on a felony driving while intoxicated charge, the Dallas Morning News reported.
DFW Department of Public Safety and Texas Department of Public Safety employees violated Mwaura’s civil rights, the lawsuit alleges. The agencies are defendants in the suit, as are the DFW Airport board and five individual law enforcement officers.
Airport and Texas DPS representatives did not immediately respond to a request for a response to the allegations.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 16 by Wakanyi Mwaura, the sister of Waweru Mwaura.
The law enforcement officers at an airport station should have more closely monitored Mwaura, according to the lawsuit.
The officers should have visually checked on Mwaura every 30 minutes because he had indicated he was a suicide risk due to his psychological and emotional state, the lawsuit asserts.
“Despite their knowledge of this duty and the knowledge that there were no surveillance devices that enabled them to see into Waweru Mwaura’s cell, defendants failed to meet this requirement,” attorneys Justin Moore and Don O’Bannon wrote in the lawsuit’s complaint.
In a screening at the station, Mwaura was asked whether he was suicidal or had attempted suicide previously.
The officers have said that Mwaura replied no to both questions, but an officer’s body camera shows that Mwaura said nothing in response to the questions, according to the lawsuit.
Mwaura was also alone in the cell.
Officers said they entered to check on Mwaura at 2:51 p.m. and found him alive. At 3:54 p.m., Mwaura was found with a ligature made from his blue jeans around his neck.
Staff entered and began CPR.
Mwaura was taken to Baylor Grapevine Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner’s office reported the time of death was 4:37 p.m.
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
